WEEKEND EDITION - April 11-12, 2020 | $2.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
Businesses adjust to life in pandemic
From sick leave to social distancing, local companies have many new rules to navigate
BY NATHAN BERG
nberg@gainesvilletimes.com
If you’ve left your house to go
shopping in the last couple of
weeks, you’ve probably noticed a
few changes in local retail chains.
Publix has installed plexiglass
walls to separate customers from
cashiers. At Lowes, social distanc
ing squares dot the checkout lanes,
helping shoppers stay six feet apart
while waiting to pay. Target has
reserved the first hour of shopping
every Tuesday and Wednesday for
higher risk patrons, such as the
elderly, pregnant women or those
with pre-existing conditions that
make them more vulnerable to the
effects of COVID-19. Many other
retailers have set up similar shop
ping times for those patrons.
Most businesses are taking some
sort of action to keep employees
and customers safe, but that’s
about as far as the constants go.
The CDC has provided guidelines
on what measures businesses should
take and the Governor’s Office has
followed up with some regulations
to enforce those guidelines, but spe
cifics are difficult to come by.
The CDC and U.S. Department
of Labor’s Occupational Safety
and Health Administration have
released employer guidelines for
maintaining safe work spaces, ask
ing businesses to switch to curbside
or drive-through service where
possible, increase sanitation proce
dures and keep employees at least
six feet apart from each other at all
times.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s statewide
shelter in place order echoes those
guidelines, requiring employee
workspaces be at least six feet
apart. The order allows flexibil
ity, advising businesses enhance
“sanitation of the workplace as
appropriate” and provide personal
protective equipment “as available
and appropriate.”
■ Please see BUSINESS, 8A
Testing for COVID-19 ramps up
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
The Longstreet Clinic holds COVID-19 testing Friday, April 10, at a temporary drive-thru shelter in the parking lot of the clinic.
Supply a concern; priority to symptomatic, high-risk groups
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
AND MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
Although COVID-19 testing is becom
ing more widely available, testing is still
being prioritized for higher-risk groups
and those who have been exposed to the
virus.
Social distancing, however, can pre
vent people from getting sick.
Lacking the supplies “to test every
body,” Jo Brewer, executive director of
laboratory services for Northeast Geor
gia Health System, insists people abide by
Georgia’s shelter-in-place order.
“We don’t have the supplies, and even
commercial labs don’t have the capacity
yet,” for wholesale testing, she said.
“It is getting better with capacity and
different vendors bringing forth COVID
testing, but it is simply not quite enough
yet to test asymptomatic people,” she
‘That’s why it’s
critically important that
everybody stay home.
We really don’t have
enough supplies... either
in-house or external labs
to test everybody.’
Jo Brewer
executive director of laboratory
services for NGHS
said. “And there’s a bunch of them out
there, spreading the disease.”
Brewer said estimates show that up to
half of the population is asymptomatic,
meaning they’re infected even though not
showing symptoms.
“That’s why it’s critically important
that everybody stay home,” she said.
“We really don’t have enough supplies
... either in-house or external labs to test
everybody.”
COVID-19 testing that’s on the market
now is mostly uniform among patients
and involves swabbing a patient’s nose
or throat to collect a specimen to test. It
“is very sensitive and very accurate,”
Brewer said.
Several medical providers are doing
testing, including the health system as
well as primary care and urgent care
facilities and the state Department of
Public Health.
There is a shortage of supplies needed
to collect specimens, Dr. Joe Conway, lab
oratory medical director for Northeast
Georgia Medical Center Gainesville, said.
“We can’t use wooden swabs with cot
ton tips, because that would give us a false
■ Please see LABS, 9A
$600jobless
supplements to
begin next week
BY SHANNON CASAS
scasas@gainesvilletimes.com
Those receiving state unemployment ben
efits could begin getting a $600 supplement per
week as early as next week.
The Georgia Department of Labor
announced Friday that it is updating its system
to distribute the federal unemployment funds
as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Eco
nomic Security Act.
The $600 is part of the Federal Pandemic
Unemployment Compensation program and
is provided to any individual eligible for any of
the state and federal unemployment compen
sation programs, according to a news release
from GDOL. The $600 is on top of state benefits.
The number of Georgia workers seeking
jobless benefits last week surged to more than
390,000, eclipsing the total number of unem
ployment claims the state saw in all of 2019,
as efforts to contain the coronavirus batter the
economy.
Georgians can visit the GDOL website at
www.dol.georgia.gov to access applications,
step-by-step instructions, and video tutorials on
applying for unemployment.
“The GDOL will begin sending this additional
payment to those currently receiving state
unemployment benefits beginning next week,”
according to the news release. “This supple
ment will be an additional payment to regu
lar weekly state unemployment benefits and
will include all eligible weeks beginning with
the week ending 4/4/2020. The supplement
amount is contingent upon any deductions
required by the state or federal government.”
GDOL is also working to provide unemploy
ment benefits for those not usually eligible for
them. The Pandemic Unemployment Assis
tance program will help those who are self-
employed, gig workers, 1099 independent
contractors, employees of churches, employ
ees of nonprofits and those with limited work
history.
Millions of these workers who were prom
ised they would qualify for unemployment ben
efits for the first time during the coronavirus
pandemic have been in limbo as the federal
government and states scramble to implement
that part of the $2.2 trillion relief package.
Under federal rules, people will receive ben
efits backdated to when they became unem
ployed because of the coronavirus, not to when
they apply. So in the end, workers should not
■ Please see CARES, 6A
DEATHS 2B
Willie “Dan” Armour, 57
Kaneesha Bailey, 29
Johnny Barthell, 74
Stacy Black, 55
Uriah Blake, 29
Robert Boren, 49
Melissa Brasil, 42
Hilda Clark, 70
Joseph Corral, 73
Norman Daugherty, Jr.
Michael Fry, 50
Joseph Hamner, 78
Ron Higgins, Sr., 58
James Holtzclaw
Hartwell Jarrett, 80
James Jones, 69
Jean Kepshire, 98
Rosa Lee Kesler, 90
Sandra Kiser, 72
Herman Ledford, 78
Deborah Major, 67
Rose Mesidor, 69
Terry Mintz, 63
David Morgan, 61
Elaine Mote, 65
Marcus Perez, 46
Katherine Phillips, 76
William Picklesimer, 87
Thedis Pittman, 94
Anthony Roberts, 75
Alice Scroggs, 82
Jackie Tinsley, 59
Linda Tuck, 71
Penny Whitley, 67
0
4 0 9 01
06825
9
join the fight,
please give.
nghs.com/give.
Northeast Georgia
Health System
FOUNDATION
